Deborah Orr

Deborah Jane Orr (born 23 September 1962^[1]) is a British journalist and broadcaster who works for The Guardian newspaper. She was born and raised in Motherwell, Scotland.^[2][3][4]

Orr worked as deputy editor for City Limits magazine and as a contributor to New Statesman until 1990. She is currently a columnist for The Guardian, a publication she first joined in 1990. She was previously a columnist for The Independent and editor of the Guardian Weekend magazine (1993-98).^[5]

On 19 October 2011, an article written by Orr entitled "Is an Israeli life really more important than a Palestinian's?" was published in The Guardian. In her article, Orr states that the trade for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for over 1000 Palestinian prisoners "acknowledges what so many Zionists believe - that the lives of the chosen are of hugely greater consequence than those of their unfortunate neighbours."^[6] This statement, viewed by many as anti-Semitic, was the subject of much criticism. Mark Gardner of the Community Security Trust stated “Deborah Orr used an old anti-Semitic slur in order to attack Zionists. It shows how easily these ways of thinking can be adapted for modern use. But the entire article was extremely stupid and should never have been published in the first place.”^[7]

In a subsequent article published in The Guardian on October 26th 2011, Orr apologised for words which she describes as "badly chosen and poorly used". However, she followed this by defending her words, stating "accusations of anti-Semitism have also been intemperate". In addition, she suggested that although she "was wrong to use poorly chosen words to describe Israel [...] that doesn't mean the country is above criticism".^[8] In addition to her article, her apology, too, was the subject of much criticism. Her failure to address her statement alleging that so many Zionists believe "that the lives of the chosen are of hugely greater consequence than those of their unfortunate neighbours" led many to believe that she entirely misunderstood the criticism of her article. A follow up Guardian article by readers' editor Chris Elliott acknowledged Orr's lapse and wider concerns that the newspaper was "carrying material that either lapses into language resonant of antisemitism or is, by its nature, antisemitic", concluding that the organisation "must be more vigilant to ensure our voice in the debate is not diminished because our reputation has been tarnished".^[9][10][11]

Orr married Will Self in 1997 and they have two sons. They live in Stockwell, South London.^[12][13]

• The Independent - Articles by Deborah Orr Articles published in the past year
• The Guardian - Archive of articles by Deborah Orr in the Guardian
• BBC News - Views on respect: Deborah Orr 09/01/06
• Silverman, Craig (12 October 2005). "BBC host apologizes after guest swears on air". Regret The Error. Archived from the original on 19 February 2006. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
• [1] The Guardian - "Is an Israeli life really more important than a Palestinian's?" - Deborah Orr
• [2] The Guardian - "Why it's right to weigh your words carefully" - Deborah Orr

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